Helene Darroze, with restaurants in London and Paris, is the 2015 Veuve Cliquot Female Chef of the Year. She was also the model for the female chef Colette in the Pixar film Ratatouille in 2007, displaying, shall we say, a bit of attitude. This article argues, High-end kitchens have long been regarded as a male domain, with culinary students worshipping brutal but allegedly brilliant men, best exemplified by the “bad boy” chef Marco Pierre White and made popular by the character portrayed by Gordon Ramsay.Ramsay is, they argue, at least on TV, an equal opportunity abuser - he represents what society has decided is the ideal head chef: aggressive, abusive and above all male. But this does Ramsay a disservice - his range of TV offerings from Kitchen Nightmares to Hell's Kitchen frequently show him supporting female owners and chefs, and female winners of Hell's Kitchen have gone on to work for him - indeed Ramsay was the first Michelin-starred restaurateur in Britain to appoint a female head chef. His approach is nevertheless somewhat robust, and it may well be difficult for many women to adapt to the culture of his kitchens. Raymond Blanc, whose style many think is more feminine, argues that women have "an allergy to becoming professional chefs.It is part of their DNA. As soon as they think of cooking, because they have had to do it for thousands of years – out of duty, rather than love – they hate the idea of having to do it professionally." adding that kitchens have always been male bastions which are inevitably "uncomfortable" for the fairer sex.Nigella Lawson, agrees, saying: "The professional kitchen's just not my bag."
Sexism in the Kitchen
Look carefully at the World's Top 50 Restaurant Awards 2015... there is a woman in there ....! Just the one.
